


The Calm Before the Storm

by savanting



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), No Romance, One Shot, Pre-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25471912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: The nightmares ofhimstalk Rey’s mind, even while she wonders why they are connected through the Force. One-Shot. (Originally Posted on LiveJournal 01/23/2016)
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	The Calm Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters. This was written WAY back in the days post-The Force Awakens and well before The Last Jedi divided a fandom. It’s a nice blast from the past. Enjoy!

Clouds swept through the sky above the island and offered the promise of rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Rey drew her cloak around herself to keep out the bitter bite of the increasing wind. Somewhere out there, far away, she could feel the tug of something—as if she were being pulled out of herself and into a black hole with no beginning or end. The sensation always made her feel as if she were losing her sense of self, of autonomy, of reality. She would try to block it out, but Jedi meditation practice sometimes made the experience worse rather than better. All she could do at such times was close her eyes and focus on the timing of her breaths…

Even then, the image of a masked face came to the forefront of her mind, and a spike of fear thrilled through her.

 _You’re not there,_ she told herself. _You’re not facing **him**._

But still some deep part of her felt that her self-assurance was the greatest of deceptions.

“You look weary, Rey.”

Opening her eyes, Rey turned to regard her master, the mythic Luke Skywalker, as he walked towards her. Although the stories she had heard had built him up to be a legend in her mind, she had quickly learned he was just a man—capable but flawed, irritable when she allowed herself to be distracted during training, pleased when she listened raptly to his tales of the days before the Empire fell.

There was one thing, however, that they rarely talked about.

As Luke sat down beside her, Rey looked out over the ocean below them. Waves crashed against the cliffs. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to sink into those waves and never rise again.

“Tell me what’s on your mind,” Luke said, his voice gentle. “I’m here to help you if I can.”

She closed her eyes again. “I keep having nightmares,” she admitted. She hated having to say the words out loud—they were weakness, pure and simple—but she wanted to be honest with her master about what was troubling her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luke nod once, twice. “And the nightmares themselves?” he prompted.

Rey was quiet for a long moment. “Nightmares about _him_ ,” she said. Her voice grew so soft by the end of the sentence that even she could barely hear it.

Neither one needed to say whom she meant by _him_.

Luke kept his silence even longer than she had. “How long has this been going on, Rey?”

She shifted uncomfortably and readjusted the cloak around her shoulders, all the while avoiding Luke’s gaze. “Even before I came here,” she said at last.

Yet more quiet persisted on Luke’s end: she knew she was in trouble when he grew quiet. “You should have told me,” he finally said.

“I was ashamed,” Rey murmured. “I felt weak.”

“You, my young padawan, are far from weak.” He ran his artificial hand down his face. “Whether you like it or not, you seem to have formed a strong connection with him—”

“I didn’t want to,” she interrupted, ferocity back in her voice. “I would give anything to not dream about him. He stalks my dreams as if he’s an animal hunting me.”

“You think he’s a monster,” Luke said, voice soft, “and I won’t say you’re wrong.”

They were quiet as they both absorbed the enormity of what she had just shared, the darkness that had been following her dream steps for weeks.

“What should I do, master? To keep him out of my dreams?”

“I honestly don’t know if there is a way, Rey,” he said sadly. “As I said, you’re connected—"

“Please, master, I don’t want to be tormented anymore.” Now she felt ashamed by the burn of tears unshed in her eyes.

Silence fell again as Luke contemplated, and Rey watched with a plea in her gaze. “There are only two ways I know of breaking such a connection,” he said. “One would be to kill him. The other…” He hesitated.

“What, master? I may hate him, but I don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Help save him from his own darkness,” Luke said.

Rey thought he might have been joking-if only her master were one for jokes. Still, she barked out a bitter laugh. “He can’t be saved. I’ve seen it in his eyes, master.”

“Are you certain?” Luke asked. “There’s no glimmer of light in him? No spark of humanity?”

She opened her mouth to argue-- _Of course there isn’t!_ —but then she paused, remembering a piece from her last nightmare, the one that had jolted her awake in the middle of the night. _He_ had cornered her in the snowy forest, the one where he always stalked her, and she had felt the roughness of the tree behind her back as he had edged closer, his lightsaber near enough to burn her skin. He hadn’t been masked in the nightmare, and the wound she had given him in their last battle had openly wept fresh blood as if it hadn’t healed in the months they’d been apart. Finally, after months of chasing her through the forest of her dreams, he had her caught and he would—he would—

All he did was reach with his free hand and touch her cheek. The touch had been surprisingly gentle.

“You _are_ real,” she thought she had heard him say, as if in wonder. As if some puzzle piece had fallen into place and he finally saw the whole picture. She had opened her mouth to say something—maybe to scream at him that _of course she was real_ —but then he had leaned forward, invading her space even more, until their foreheads were touching. “I thought I was going insane.”

His breath had been warm against her face.

That was the last thing Rey had noted before she had awoken, tangled in her bedroll, disoriented by the strange turn the nightmare had taken. She thought for sure he would try to kill her, but instead…instead…

“I don’t know, master,” she finally told Luke. “I don’t think I have the faintest idea about that.”

“On the contrary, Rey,” Luke said, “I think you have more knowledge than you believe.”

Rey thought to say something else— _That can’t be possible_ —but a distant clap of thunder made her jolt. Luke stood and offered her a hand.

“Let’s retreat inside before the storm comes.”

Rey nodded, her gaze flitting to the horizon, and she knew the battle with her own personal storm had really only just begun.


End file.
